Weekend sweets... It's a long weekend with both Mulid El-Nabi and Mother's Day falling just a day apart this year; whet your appetite with this classic cairolive Prophet's Birthday sweets post from 2002, plus a news agency photo from a more recent Sufi celebration...

Mufti seeks UN ban on religious insults...

Turns out... Police admit to acting unprofessionally in arrests of Egyptian students in the US...

Party for an exile... Orabi being celebrated in Ceylon...

Deadly land ownership fight...

Are they? AFP thinks men are upset about female ma'zoun... Earlier: Another new trend... First female ma'zoun...

Banning the face veil for nurses...

Exchange student who lost a lot of weight in Egypt... Slideshow...

Mourning prominent columnist Magdi Mehanna...

Around 15 Egyptian trade unions -- from doctors to writers -- issued a protest over a decision to make Israel a guest of honour at a major Paris book fair next month.

Meanwhile -- big plans for new Alamein resort town... Plus: Is Siwa developing too rapidly...?

Look up... Total lunar eclipse on the horizon...

Two youth internationals against Denmark cancelled... Earlier: Big demo against Danish cartoons in Assuit... Newspapers with the cartoons banned...

Sufi Abu Taleb, who served as acting president of Egypt for eight days in October 1981 after the assassination of Anwar Sadat, died in Malaysia at the age of 82

Interesting experiment... NY Times gets Egyptians to critique its latest social analysis article about Egypt (after translating it into Arabic)...

Plus: a NYT slide show on the difficulties of getting married...

Greek earthquake felt as far away as Cairo...

Book fair censorship reversed....

FBI says Egyptian students in US had fireworks not explosives...

20th bird flu death... 44th human bird flu case... Villagers not happy about new bird flu chicken rules...

Good news... Internet cables repaired... Time flies... Internet back to normal in 10 days... Earlier: Via nothing... Internet down -- could take days to fix... 70 per cent down... the result of "weather conditions and maritime traffic"...

Rational perspective... NY Times article on the bread issue contains this startling bit -- "Over all, the government spends more on subsidies, including gasoline, than it spends on health and education..."

IRIN explores the tough lives being led by some of the hundred thousand or so Iraqi refugees in Egypt...

Pope Shenouda in Ohio hospital...

Historian Younan Labib Rizk dies at 75...

NPR is impressed by the independent route chosen by popular band Black Thema...

4 bird flu deaths in a week... 1600 chickens culled in 4 governorates... 16th bird flu death...

Always a controversy... Some books banned at the book fair...

Small plane crash near Port Said...

First nuclear reactor will be built at Dabba on the Mediterranean coast west of Alexandria...

Possible new war graves found in Sinai

Successes? National Geographic goes a to a remote desert area that's been turned green... Photos of it and other similar areas... More... Earlier: San Fran Chronicle outlines the way remote desert reclamation communities are experiencing the same changing political dynamic as Cairo...

Pressure tactics... Egyptian sues to get his US citizenship...

Cross-cultural ranching... An Egyptian and an American cowboy meet up...

Missed call... Can you get divorced via SMS...?

Still seeking answers for the Sudanese refugee tragedy of two years ago...

In the footsteps of a teddy bear? Foreign Ministry tries to help Madbouli booksellers in trouble in Sudan...

Much needed... 80 milion euros from the EU to the transport sector...

Photo of Pope Shenouda leading Coptic Christmas prayers... Gamal Mubarak attends...

Azhar gives rape victims right to abort... Gulf News tackles ensuing controversy...

Six water brands found unsafe

Egyptian model competing for Mr International title...

Strong presence... Expensive Egyptian float in the New Year's Rose Bowl parade...

The government is still trying to get people out of Luxor's Gurna treasure trove...

Mediterranean renaissance... Quirky story on the Bibliotheca as a symbol of a rising city...Plus, evocative NY Times slideshow of interesting Alexandria sights...

Exciting trips... Experiencing the rush of hot air ballooning over the treasures of Luxor...

Plus: Canadian media takes a different sort of look at tourism contradictions...

Catch it while you can... Rami Khouri's touching ode to Cairo's holiday decorated airport buses...

Azhar rep arrested in Philippines...

Dangerous paths... Fatwa against Sawiris puts businessman in the socio-political and religious spotlight over veil and brotherhood comments...

Compensation for Coptic property damaged in sectarian violence...

Sectarian tension turns violent in Isna...

New tradition? It's black cloud time again.. Trying to fight it with a fatwa...

The mufti denies government pressure on religious rulings... Earlier: Fatwas getting odder... Latest rules on permissibility of driving over someone...

Stranded tanker temporarily blocks Suez Canal traffic

Another one bites the dust.. Crocodile smuggler caught...

Ambitious art... Large painting of Cairo market competing for Guinness world's record?

Spiritual trends... NY Times asks, "why do so many Egyptian men press so hard when they pray?" ... Pioneer Press looks into the next Amr Khaled phenomenon... Meanwhile, Houston Chronicle reports on the rise of overly public preaching...

Reuters looks at the dangerous life for helpless street kids

Tracing the origins of the word amen to ancient Egypt...

Origins here and there... In Pittsburgh, young Ya-Ya gets his first look at snow and declares it better than the pyramids...

Inside jobs... Seriously investigating a visa scam at the German Embassy in Cairo...

San Fran Chronicle discovers that every roof has a story...

First mention: No more City of the Dead tours?

Beyond eloping... Daily Mail has an in-depth report with pics on the British runaway teen who wed her boyfriend from Hurghada... Earlier: Runaway UK teen marries her Hurghada boyfriend... Plus, a picture of the happy couple...

Bloomberg review not too keen on Aswany's Chicago...

IOL has some headline fun on a story about the future of fuul...

Prehistoric cave paintings in grave danger from unregulated tourism...

The virgin voyage of Oberoi's new luxury cruise ship...

Changing mores... Latest stats show that a third of marriages breaking up in the first year

Ivy League move... New major fellowship program for public sector officials at Harvard...

Tough recovery... South African woman has a hard time getting compensated by Egyptair for damaged luggage

Good questions... With more and more cheap Chinese imports available, how long will the recycling industry last?

LA Times looks at the increasing single working female phenomenon...

City Stars fire gets international coverage...

10 years since the Luxor massacre...

Dangerous waters... LA Times digs deep into why people desperately seek work abroad...

Natural fit... The American University in Cairo (AUC) called the new hot spot for American students studying abroad....

Changing environments... Volunteers clean up trash left by tourists in the White Desert...

Serious health worries for Pope Shenouda Leaves hospital...

Rocky path... Sawiris is not happy about rising conservatism, plans to fight it with media.

Looking in... Chicago Tribune gets nostalgic for Alexandria...
(with video)...

Meanwhile, Chicago Tribune adores the taxi driver tales book....

Makadi (misspelled in the article) Bay named hot travel site...

Word games... AFP goes literary wild with the news that "authorities in tobacco-mad Egypt have begun slapping on-the-spot fines on people caught smoking" at the airport...

Landmine tragedy in Al-Arish...

Up north... Good review for Toronto Egyptian restaurant that serves $12.95 fuul...

Meanwhile, bizarre Canadian bank fraud case has an Egyptian connection...

More torture cases... Earlier: 3 year jail sentences for police torturers...

Arrests made in illegal immigration drowning tragedy...

14 railway officials sentenced...

An inclusive spirit... AFP discovers a sign language component to Friday prayer...

The controversy over turning the desert green...

Enlightening visit... "French footballing icon Zinedine Zidane was in Cairo to launch a home for handicapped street children..." Plus, a photo...

Big numbers... Egypt has 180,000 Facebook members, or one for every 437 residents... Meanwhile, most frequent searchers on Google for sex worldwide....

Human interest... A probing interview with Egyptian-American announcer Hoda Kotb...

Major development... Fewer medical students to be accepted.

Judge in Jazeera documentary case steps down...

The 911 pilot radio case drags on in NY ...

Mystery punch... 2 visiting boxers disappear in the US...

Recurring situation... Having a rather hard time getting back from the umra...

Not a drop... IPS takes a thoughtful look at kast summer's water crisis...

Holding ground.. Eid is Saturday in Egypt even though it's Friday in Saudi...

Losing a lot of weight... An Egyptian doctor describes his innovative diet treatment in a specialized publication...

Doing well... Back to Dallas for checkups with the twins... Earlier, ABC update on the formerly conjoined twins Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim...

Hello, Guiness? World's largest platter of the Oriental sweet konafa and the biggest-ever pot of beans.

More trouble in El-Kosheh?

Dozens of Sinai Bedouins have rioting charges dropped... Earlier: 40 Bedouins detained after protest turns violent. CS Monitor tries to look at the bigger picture... Earlier: Another violent incident amongst the Bedouins of Sinai... More...

Uncovering a tunnel to Gaza...

Here we go again...
The most in depth article yet on the UK teenager searching for her fiancé in Hurghada... And, for the obsessed, even more... Earlier: UK teenager in love with a guy from Hurghada disappears again...

Complicated case... Hiring a famous lawyer to defend the student in trouble in the US... Earlier: Washington Post says Egyptian student in trouble in the US was narrator of You Tube terror video?

Local Michigan paper features story on huge heart display being made for a Cairo exhibit...

Another class... New luxurious Nile cruise makes UK paper's list of most indulgent vacation stays worldwide...

On the set of a new Youssri Nasrallah film, LA Times gets nostalgic about the past and future of Egyptian cinema...

Russian site says Bin Laden fanous is proving popular...

New Age festival finally takes place...

Now Al-Azhar wants a TV channel...

AFP does the mass wedding story...

Color analysis... "Tutankhamun was not black," says Hawass. Plus, surprising new Tut tomb find...

World Economic Forum back in Egypt for 2008...

Top job... Egyptian finance whiz takes over running of giant Harvard endowment fund...

Interesting comparison... IHT suggests that Bush could learn a thing or two from Napoleon's aborted 1798 takeover of Egypt...

Changing dynamic... Interesting LA Times story on Iraqi refugees in Cairo...

Jailed militant commits suicide...

Police arrested 28 people in Alexandria after Muslim and Christian youths clashed in a fight over a girl... A little more from Reuters...

Egyptian father visiting his immigrant son in the US gets disappears in Staten Island...

Getting the press...
Positive article in the London Times encourages Brits to buy into Red Sea properties...

Plus, New Zealand paper says Alexandria "has something of the taste of old Havana..."

Accidental New Kingdom discovery in Luxor...

VOA reports on a US embassy effort to celebrate archives of music...

Social slants... CS Monitor tries to put urfi marriages into context... Meanwhile, IHT takes an in depth look at the female circumcision debate...

Different worlds... Heliopolis Club and undersecretaries of state -- a paper looks at one of the jailed students' background... Bond set for other student... Earlier: More details on the case involving Egyptian students accused of terrorism in the US... And here...

Care for choice? A Telegraph writer ponders the pros and cons of mass market Nile cruises...

Big new look for Ramadan date name game fame this year.

Amr Khaled in the Washington Post...

"Blood bags" NDP MP ordered detained....

Right before Ramadan... It gets dark in Cairo around 6:30pm now, thanks to an early shift in the end of daylight savings time......

Ramadan begins Thursday...

The latest in the case of the Egyptian students in trouble in the US... Earlier: Big trouble abroad.. "It's all in their imagination"? Families can't believe charges against students in US... Earlier: Egyptian students in the US indicted on explosives possession charges...

Chinese media covers opening of Suzanne Mubarak's big youth forum in Sharm El-Sheikh...

Still an issue... AP covers story of "man [who] forced his 20-year-old wife to be circumcised after a year of marriage..."

World Bank warning... Very dire climate change predictions for Delta area from USA Today...

"All English, all the time..." A brief exploration of the interesting dichotomies in the new Melody ads...

Forward planning... "A self-financed Chinese civilian delegation, which had previously traveled to 68 countries across the world, has arrived in Egypt for promoting Beijing 2008 Olympics..."

Christian mulid -- "Hundreds of thousands of poor Coptic pilgrims and a handful of Muslims converged on the southern Egyptian village of Dronka where they believe the Holy Family stayed 2,000 years ago. ..."

Sentences handed down to perpetrators of Al-Azhar attack... More from AP...

Poetry in the sand... IHT serenades a retiring desert tour guide...

Montreal pop singer Chantal Chamandy, who has Egyptian roots, will be
performing at the Pyramids with several other artists, including the Cairo Symphony Orchestra...</